CARE workers and nurses battling heavy snow to reach patients were given a helping hand from life-saving citizens yesterday.

Nurses and staff going to GWH, Prospect Hospice, and Marlborough House were all chauffeured by staff at the Grange Jaguar Landrover showroom to make sure patient safety was safeguarded.

The company put out a message early in the morning offering all NHS workers a lift in one of its three top of the range 4x4s.

Mike Edwards, the transaction manager at Landrover showroom on Dorcan Way, told the Adver: "We have had quite a large response.

"We expected to get some people, but it's kept us busy for most of the day.

"It's good to be able to help if we can, it makes sense really, that's what the cars were designed for.

"Sometimes there's much more important things than selling cars."

A spokesman from Prospect Hospice said: “We are very grateful to Land Rover Jaguar for their help in enabling staff and even patient family members get to Prospect Hospice today.

"We would like to say a big thank you to them and to everyone else whose efforts and kindness helped us to give our care to people from across our community, despite the snow today.”

Great Western Hospital paid tribute to all its staff who managed to make it in, despite some services being affected.

A spokesperson for GWH said: "We had plans in place to ensure we maintained patient services during severe weather conditions and are working hard to ensure there is minimal disruption.

"A huge thank you to all of our incredible staff, many of whom have walked miles in the snow to get to the hospital or visit patients in their homes."

Staff at First City Nursing helped dig their colleagues vehicles free to get round to see all the patients.

Managing director Stephen Trowbridge paid tribute the staff that pulled out all the stops.

“We’re so proud of our entire team – our internal staff, frontline staff and out of hours team – for how they have all pulled together and gone the extra mile to ensure that our customers are safe and cared for.

"We have had teams of people digging others out of the snow to ensure that care can continue, as well as staff volunteering to take extra duties to make sure that no customer is missed out.

"We’ve even been contacted by members of public who have been keen to help their own local community in this extreme weather, which goes to show how supportive the Swindon community is."